Reflections on the Significance of Meals during Intensive Naikan Therapy

Abstract

  Meals are one of the factors that influence Naikan Therapy participants. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 intensive Naikan Therapy participants and 1 meal maker, and analyzed using the KJ method, considering the perspectives of both the Naikan participants and the meal maker. The results from the Naikan Therapy participants suggested that the meals ‘evoked a sense of being loved,’ constituted a ‘change of place and feeling,’ and were a ‘trigger for recall and reflection.’ Meanwhile, we found from the interview that the meal maker had a ‘policy toward food’ and both ‘ingenuity and care’ directed toward the participants.

  The significance of the meal is that it provides a change of place and of feelings; that resistance to Naikan is eased by the feeling of love related to the meal; and that it is a trigger for recall and reflection. The participants seemed to feel that the meal maker’s ingenuity was more than enough. We believe that this is also related to the structure of the meal during Naikan Therapy.